Flame and abrasion resistant riser for parachute



May 9, 1951 A. J. sTElNTHAL 2,983,470

' FLAME AND ABRAsIoN RESISTANT RISER FOR PARACHUTE Filed April 11, 1958 INVENTOR AUGUSTUS J STE/NTHAL ATTORNEYS United States Patent FLAMEAND AnRAsroN RESISTANT RISER l FOR PARACHUTE Y Augustus John Stenthal, Harrison, N.Y., assigner-to i M. Steinthal & Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York 'Filed' Apr. r1, 195s, ser. No. 'm7,s77 f sclaims. (c1. 244-1129' As is well known, it is now common practicel to utilize j parachutes for decelerating or reducing the speed of aircraft, particularly of the jet propelledtype, during landing operations andv since, such decelerating parachutes are attached to the rear. of the aircraft, the riser extending between ther aircraft' and the l.pnarac'zhute is yfrequently eX- posed to the llames and hot gases emanating from the tail pipe of the jet engine. As a result, ordinaryV risers constructed of fabric webbing cannot be employed, since the same are damaged to such an extent by the arnes and hot gases as lto render the same unusable. In an attempt to overcome thisdiiculty, it has heretofore been proposed to utilize a length of steel cable as a riser;L but this has 'not resulted in a satisfactory solution' to the problem, since such cable is relatively stiff and has consequently, interfered with the normal deployment of the parachute and pilot chute and furthermore, such steel cable frequently became entangled in the canopy and shroud lines of the parachute resulting in damage thereto and difliculty in retrieving and repacking the same. Furthermore, after a rela-tively short period of use, portions of the steel cable would break resulting in lengths of fine wire projecting therefrom which resulted in further damage to the parachute and frequently in injury to personnel handling the same. j

In addition to `the damage to the riser resulting from exposure to the ames and hot gases, emanating from the jet engine tail pipe, risers are also subjected to undue wear due to contact with the ground or paved runways and consequently, the life of such risers has been rela.

tively short.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a llame and abrasion resistant riser for connecting a decelerating parachute to an aircraft which may be conveniently and economically manufactured from readily available materials and which will substantially prevent damage or undue wear due -to exposure to the flames and hot gases emanating from the jet engine tail pipe and also will substantially eliminate damage resulting from abrasion due to contact of the riser with the ground or paved runway.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a flame and abrasion resistant riser for connecting a decelerating parachute to an aircraft in which the relatively great exibility of a fabric or non-metallic riser is re-.

4Primaria!` May-9,1961

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. 2 l in no way interfere with the normal retrieving and packing of such parachute after-completion of alandin'g operation. Another object of the invention is the provision of a riser for connecting a deceleratingy parachute to anfaircraft andvin whichgmeans is provided for materially in creasing the life of such riser when compared to risers now inl use. j

AFurther objects and advantages ofthe invention will lbe apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein: Fig. l is a fragmentaryv elevational view of a riser constructed in accordance with this `invention andincorporating flame and abrasion resistant means for protecting theriser; j. y w

Fig. 2 a view partly inV section taken llongitudinally of Fig. 1 and partly in plan view;

Fig-'3: a transverse .sectionalview taken substantially on the line 3`3of Fig. l; and f I j, Fig. 4 a transverse sectional' viewjtaken substantially on the l-ine 4-4 of Fig. ln t I- v With continued reference to the drawing, .there is shown a parachute riserwl() `which is utilized to connect a decelerating parachute to an aircraft andaside from thedlame and abrasion 'resistant characteristics and meansto be presently described', lsuclrriser may berofmorenor less conventional construction. yAs shown in. the drawing, ,the riser 1,0 of this invention may well comprise a plurality of 'elongated super-imposed fabric straps 11 of nylon or othersuitable webbing, and'such straps may be provided at the opposite ends thereof with suitable means forattaching the same to the shroud lines .of .thepa'rachute and to the aircraft. vv'Ihe speci'cuattachin'g means andthe specific structure of the'riser at the opposite ends thereof is not shown or described, since the same forms no part of this invention and it is not believed that a showing or description thereof isnecessary or desirable. As shown, the straps 11 are in contact with each other, but if desired, the same may be spaced in any desired manner and while four straps have been shown, it is to be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only and that any number of straps necessary to carry the required load may be employed.

A sleeve 12 of llame resistant material, such as woven fiberglass or woven asbestos is disposed over a major portion of the length of the straps 11 and such sleeve 12 would be so disposed as to cover all portions of the straps 11 which would normally be subjected to the ilames and hot gases emanating from the tail pipe of the jet engine and also would cover the portion of the straps 11 which would normally contact the ground when the parachute was released from the aircraft upon completion of a landing operation. The material of which the sleeve 12 is constructed, such as berglass or asbestos, will, of course provide all necessary protection against damage to the straps 11 due to exposure to the hot gases and flames and in order to further protect the straps 11, against abrasive wearupon contact with the ground or paved runway, the sleeve 12 may be coated with neoprene or other suitable abrasion resistant material to the necessary thickness to provide the proper protection against undue abravcured to the straps 11 in such a manner as to permit relative movement between the straps 11 and the sleeve 12, but at the same time, to substantially maintain the location of the sleeve 12 on the straps 1'1. For this wrapped with av suitable thready or cordu 1?,` which serves to frictionally bind or secure the ends of the sleeve 12 to the straps 11 and this will hserve to maintain the relative position' of the" sleeve 12 on thel straps 1-14, 'but willV at the same time, permit limited 'relative' sliding movement therebetween, as describedabove. l i

If desired,` a lanyar'd14 Vmay have one end thereof wrapped about the sleevel 12, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 2, and may be secured lthereto in any desired manner'and the lanyard'14 is utilized upon deployment 'of the parachute to assist in opening the deployment bag during such'op'eration; Thelanyard 14 and its attachment to thesleeve 12, however, forms no part of the instant invention, since such lanyards are frequently ernployed withV conventional risers utilized for connecting deceleratingparachutes to aircraft.

While'the above described structure is relatively simple, it Ywill be obvious that the same provides adequate protection against damage tothe riser, ydue to exposure to ame and hot gases and also due to abrasion caused by contact with the groundy or paved runways and furthermore, the ame and abrasion protectivemeans may be utilized in connection with conventional riser structures without necessitating modiication thereof and it has been found that the use of the flame and abrasion protective means of this invention has resulted in a material increase in life of risers utilized for the purpose described above.

yIt will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various-changes may bei'made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing andv described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in connecting a decelerating' parachute to 4 an aircraft a flameand abrasion resistant riser comprising aV plurality of elongated super-imposed fabric straps, a sleeve of Woven ame resistant material enclosing said straps for a major portion of the length thereof, a coating of abrasion resistant material on said sleeve and means for frictionally securing the opposite ends of said sleeve to said straps to hold said sleeve in place, but permitting relative'movement between said straps andsleeve to compensate for dilferences in elasticity of the materials.

2. -A riser as dened in claim l in which said sleeve comprises Woven fiberglass. n

3. A riser asV defined in claim 1 in'whch said sleeve comprises woven asbestos.

4. A riser Aas defined in claim 1 in which said coating comprises neoprene.

5. For use in connecting a decelerating parachute to an aircraft a flame and abrasion resistant riser comprising a plurality of elongated super-imposed straps, a sleeve yof flame and labrasion resistant material enclosing said straps for a major portion of the length thereof, and means for frictionallyl securing the opposite ends'of said sleeve to said 'straps to hold' said sleeve in place but permitting relative movement between said straps and sleeve to compensate for dilferences in the elasticity of the materials.

References Cited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,019,858 Tanner Mar. 12, 1912 2,258,745 Dewey et al Oct. 14, 1941 2,383,733 Parker Aug'. 28, 1945 2,754,848 Knowland et al. uly 17, 1956 2,829,849 Plath Apr. 8, 1958 2,833,313 Penman May 6, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,077,922 France May 5, 1954 

